A Childhood
by brookmichelle
Summary: Brooklyn Amarenze was an orphan; nothing special to live for. However, everthing changes when the Tenth Doctor and the TARDIS turn up in the backyard of the foster home. The Doctor was skeptical about bringing her, but Brooklyn quickly convincced hin o bring her on an adventure. However, he quickly begins to regret this decision.


Brooklyn Amarenze stared blankly at the old, grey wall of her Calculus class. She was only a freshman; but she was a genius. The boring operations her teacher was teaching were old news to her; she had figured them out as soon as the teacher had written them on the black board.

"Psst! Brooklyn!" Whispered a good looking, male senior from behind her. She recognized him as Xander, the class clown. "Do you have a spare pencil?"

Brooklyn was jolted out of her daydream by the request. "Yeah, one sec," she pulled a Ticonderoga pencil from her black Jansport backpack. The yellow paint was beginning to come off due to too many days of riding around in the cluttered bag.

"Thanks!" He quickly grabbed the pencil and began to jot down the notes.

The end of the day couldn't have come sooner. Brooklyn was out of the classroom the moment that the bell rang. She dashed outside, off of school grounds, down the street and around the corner to the bus stop. The regular school buses didn't go where Brooklyn lived. She sat down on the shaded bench and picked up an old newspaper that had been left on the seat. _Arizona Congressman Scotia Malender disappeared from Phoenix home _read the headline. However, the strange name distracted Brooklyn from reading the actual article.

The bus arrived soon after, and Brooklyn boarded with a smile.

"Hey, kid," greeted the usual bus driver. Brooklyn had no clue what his name was; but he was the kindest old man to ever live. She made her way to the back of the public bus where nobody was already sitting and sat down on the cold, grey, plastic seat. The air smelled like cheap cologne and elderly women, and she embraced. It was better than the miscellaneous scents that she would experience when she got back to the house.

"Thank you!" beamed Brooklyn as she stepped off the bus and into the Phoenix Public Foster Home. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening the door and entering the lobby. The yellow paint on the walls was pealing and the old chairs need reupholstering; the women at the front desk fit perfectly here.

"Miss Amarenze, you're late," she said through old, yellow teeth. Her hair was tied up in a slick ponytail and her glasses were pushed too far up her nose. "Because you are older, we have given you special privileges to go to the public school rather than being home schooled here. We can take those away at any moment," she rambled.

"Sorry Ms. McDelska, the bus was late," Brooklyn sighed. "And it's not home schooling if you're not at home," Brooklyn made her way upstairs to the living quarters.

Cold, wood floors; worn, sky blue walls painted with butterflies and grass. It wasn't much, if not a bit immature, but it was nice. The main room had four or five tan cloth sofas, a large table, and several chairs around it. Six younger girls, four younger boys, and a boy in his junior year lined the table. They were playing a card game of sorts.

"Brookie!" shouted one of the younger girls. The little blond girl slid down from her chair and ran up to Brooklyn, embracing her lower half in a hug.

"Hey sweetheart!" Brooklyn smiled and picked up the little girl. Alice, the little girl, was an adorable, three year old girl with shoulder-length blond curls and gorgeous hazel eyes. And she adored Brooklyn. Brooklyn set Alice down gently on one of the ouches and made her way back into the bedroom. It was just a large, long room with the same paint job as the other room, except this one was lined with several metal framed, twin-sized beds. At the end of each bed was a wooden trunk. They were very old fashioned; but it was cute. Brooklyn approached a large mirror propped on the wall and stared at herself. She pushed up her large, black Ray Ban glasses, fixed her dark brown hair into a messy bun; and then just stared. Brooklyn looked into her own striking grey-blue eyes. She sighed.

After pulling all the miscellaneous items from the pockets of her skinny jeans, she made her way to the backyard/park area. A tree house, a large patch of grass, and a play set. Brooklyn was just beginning to climb up the worn, rope ladder up into the tree house when she heard an unfamiliar sound. It was a strange whooshing with a weird, whistling quality to it. It was strangely comforting. Brooklyn hopped down from the fourth or fifth rung on the ladder and whipped around, looking for the source of the sound. To her surprise, a blue Police Call Box was materializing in front of her eyes.

Brooklyn took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, but the object in front of her eyes was not an illusion.

Several moments later, the door opened and a normal looking man stumbled out. He was wearing a blue suit and tie, as well as a long, light brown trench coat. His brown hair was swished in a backwards motion. Brooklyn quickly picked up one of the large toy Nerf guns that were on the ground. This man could be dangerous; but she didn't know. She pointed the toy gun at him.

"Excuse me miss, time has gone all wibbly wobbly and I was wondering if- for heaven's sake, could you put the gun down?" He had a British accent.

"Yeah, sorry," Brooklyn dropped the gun by her feet.

"Oh you're American! That's brilliant! Say, would you mind telling me the exact date and our location?"

"It's July 5, 2013. You're in Phoenix, Arizona. It's about-"she pulled out the old, cheap Nokia phone that each one of the kids 13 and older received. "4 p.m. And it's my 14th birthday," she said triumphantly. Brooklyn didn't know what had prompted her to tell this complete stranger that; but she trusted him. Somehow.

"Well happy birthday! Like I was saying though, time has gone a bit wibbly wobbly and my TARDIS-"

"TARDIS?"

"Time and Relevant Dimension in Space. But my TARDIS has, for whatever reason, put me down here. Has anything-eh, strange happened here lately?" he asked as he held up a strange, metal device. It made a strange noise when he pressed a button on it, as well as a blue light turning on in it.

"Well, our state congressman went missing. Disappeared right out of his own home," she stuttered.

"Brilliant! Well, I'm off to investigate. Allons-y!" he said cheerily, then went to get back into the TARDIS.

"Wait!" Brooklyn called after him. He stopped and looked around at her. "You can't just leave me here. I don't even know your name. All I know is that you are British and you have a Time and Relevant Dimension in Space," she looked worried.

"You remembered the TARDIS's full name on the first try. I have never seen anybody do that before,"

"I'm a genius."

"So am I. But yes, unfortunately, I am going to have to leave you here. If something were to happen to you, I would never forgive myself. And look at you! Your parents must be very wealthy, living in this large house. I can't just take a wonderful childhood like that from you! And after what happened to my last friend-"he choked, thinking about Rose, who he had only recently lost. "I just can't bring you with me." Brooklyn brought her hand to her mouth. She hated the term "parents", yet felt bad for this man. He clearly misunderstood her situation.

The Doctor just stared at Brooklyn. He adored her perseverance, but couldn't just steal her childhood from her like this. It wouldn't be right. Besides, her parents would miss her so dearly. He learned that after bringing Rose home for the first time. But he was tempted, just to bring this girl on one trip.

"Please," Brooklyn said, staring into the Doctor's eyes.

"One trip," he squeezed out. "But just one. And you need to be careful," he added.

"Yes! Now, what is your name and how did you and your TARDIS get on-"she thought for a moment "my lawn?"

"My name is the Doctor, and my TARDIS can travel through space and time. Now Allons-y!" he motioned her towards the TARDIS.

Brooklyn quickly followed him in, not even looking back.


End file.
